


Broken Chains

by ImagIne03



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Inspired By Until Dawn (Video Game), wendigo cure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26492956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImagIne03/pseuds/ImagIne03
Summary: Percy Jackson characters in Until Dawn story.Thalia's chains were finally broken. Then she was attached to something else.Everyone needs someone to trust, to console to. Especially Leo.Opening up completely is something you can only trust to someone you love.Can friendship protect them from the evil chained to their fate? Can they make the neccesary sacrifices?Will everyone live Until Dawn?Sometimes it is not as easy as you would think.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Thalia Grace/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Leo gets a therapist

**Author's Note:**

> I thought this would be a fun idea  
> This is my first work ever though  
> So if you write yourself expect to be disappointed in my skill  
> I'll try to finish this but idk  
> Have fun!

Sunday January 26 2020, 01:51 

Leo

The trip had started out fine as far as Leo was concerned. Sure, he had earned himself 3 days’ worth of glares after ‘’insulting’’ Calypso: 

Leo was waiting at the top of the stairs of the Lodge path on the first night of the getaway, watching as Percy jumped from behind a tree and shoved a handful of snow down an unsuspecting Calypso’s neck. ‘’PERCY WHA-DAMN YOU!’’ Percy doubled over in laughter as Calypso rushed up the stairs to the Grace Lodge, desperate for some warmth. Unlucky for her, Jason and Thalia hadn’t arrived yet, so she had to bear some building hypothermia as they welcomed everyone at the cable car station. She took a seat next to him on the stairs as Percy walked back to the cable car station, still hiccupping with laughter. She was obviously not a fan of the prank, muttering curse words under her breath as she watched Percy leave. Leo decided to break the ice. ‘’Hey Sunshine, get up here all right?’’ He said it with a look that he hoped looked sympathetic and amused at the same time. To be fair, it probably was just amused. 

It only earned him the first of many unapproving looks. ‘’Don’t ever call me that. In fact, just don’t talk to me at all unless extremely necessary.’’ This kind of surprised him. Him and Calypso weren’t really friends, they just had many mutual ones. At all the party’s they were both present at, they didn’t interact much. She didn’t really have a reason to dislike him as far as Leo knew. ‘’Uhm…Did I do something…?’’ She just said: ‘’You are annoying.’’ Boom. Conversation ended. She was silent until the rest of the group came up and started greeting everyone with hugs and smiles, completely ignoring him. 

Leo only started enjoying his time up here after greeting the rest of the group and busying himself with letting all of the stress from college flow away from him later that night, socializing with his friends and reminding himself he had 5 days to do so. The stay up to this point in time was great. He and Percy pulled some very quality pranks on the rest, he enjoyed teasing Frank with his crush on Hazel and shared a room with Jason, talking about everything and nothing with his best friend till deep in the night. 2 days in, Jason confessed his longstanding and 3-year-old romantic feelings to Piper on a hike through the mountain paths, and they were insufferably cute and touchy and lovey-dovey for the next 24 hours. 

Meaning Leo got to be third wheel for those 24 hours, and probably many hours after. Great. 

He was being such a good third wheel in fact, that he had left Jason and Piper alone in his room to watch Netflix together. Meaning he slept on the couch. Never say that Leo isn't a good friend. 

At 2 in the night, he couldn’t handle this uncomfortable couch anymore and gave up on sleeping. His ADHD brain was throwing all kinds of deep questions at him, like the question if he would be forever alone, what the meaning of life was, or if being inderectly responsibly for your mother's death would get him in hell. To hopefully escape these thoughts, Leo grabbed his shoes and jacket, went outside on the porch and lied down on a bench. While the sounds of nature certainly did help, he couldn’t help asking himself depressing questions, like what was after death, what was the point in living and the question if lying outside in freezing temperatures in his pajama shorts was a good idea. He decided searching for signs of wildlife between the trees would help distract his mind, so he did. And eventually, he spotted a shadow. Human like figure, but kind of like it had limbs twice as long as a normal human. He wrote it off as a trick of the light and his sleep-meddled brain and followed the figure until it had walked off towards the thick woods. Then he saw another human like figure between the trees. This one actually made its way towards the lodge, and when it got close enough, he recognized it. Calypso. 

She was dressed for a winter hike, except for the sweatpants she had apparently torn. She also had a look in her eyes like her own mind was pissing her off, almost exactly like how he felt. She had reached the porch now but hadn’t spotted him. This was an ideal opportunity to scare the living daylight out of her: She would not expect anything, she looked scared already and it was 3 at night. Her reaction would probably be priceless. But he really didn’t need more disapproval than he already gave himself, so he simply called out to her: ‘’Hey.’’ She didn’t jump, but did turn towards him, eyes looking guarded and scared. ‘’Interesting time to go for a hike, huh?’’ When she didn’t react, he went on a rant which he did not control. ‘’I know you told me to never talk to you, but I kinda need to get all these thoughts out of my mind before it explodes, sorry. Do you believe in a life after death?’’ When she didn’t react, just stared at him, he continued, sitting up: ‘’Do you ever feel like life is pretty damn pointless? Like you are working and learning and suffering and just think that it really doesn’t matter? When you die, you won’t need anything.’’ When she stared at him just a little longer, he asked one last question. ‘’And do you also feel like your knees are getting spontaneous frostbite? Because these pajamas really don’t feel too comfy right no-‘’ ‘’Sometimes.’’ Calypso said. 

Leo returned from rant mode as she sat down across from him and looked straight at him. ‘’ Sometimes I also feel like I don’t really need to do what I do. Trying to perform magic tricks to help Hazel with finding out the trick behind it for hours straight, or having to drive Piper somewhere again, and think get your own license, or traveling to my parents for 2 days only to help lift 3 carton boxes, I do doubt my actions sometimes. When I do though, I just think about all the people I help with my actions, ya know? If I manage to make someone else happy, I feel happy too. Like when I help Hazel with her work, or just carpooling Piper, or helping my parents with moving…And I have also noticed that people who care about you like seeing you happy, so I am. I try to be, at least…’’ 

It was Leo’s turn to stare now. Eventually he found his tongue. ‘’That is an extremely empathic way to look at it, actually. That is probably the extreme point of goodness on the good-scale. So, your life motto is to help others as much as possible?’’ She threw her jacket’s hood off, and he could see her face clearly now. Her cheeks were a pretty red. Whether it was due to his compliment or the cold, he couldn’t tell. ‘’Pretty much.’’ Her hair glowed beautiful in the soft moonlight. She looked at him, seemingly analyzing him. ‘’ What’s yours?’’ 

Leo had to thinks about that a little before answering. Finally, he settled on a sentence that described his life perfectly. ‘’Just make the best of it. I think that comes closest.’’ He smiled sadly, thinking about his mother. Thinking about all the times he really had to try to make the best of it while running around Texas as a middle schooler. Her analyzing stare subsided. Now interest and, of course, sympathy shone in her eyes. ‘’Sounds like quite a story.’’ 

‘’It is actually…’’ 

He ended up telling her everything. About the fire where his mother had died in, which he suspected he caused by wiring something wrong. About his father, who his mother wouldn’t talk about. All she told him was that he was an extremely skilled mechanic. About his years on many different schools and in many different foster families, until finally landing in New York with a foster family who also had ADHD kids, and understood him a little. He told her all his guilt, sorrow and pain, which was stupid, because 3 days ago she had told him not to talk to her. Calypso didn’t say things like ‘’I’m so sorry for your loss’’, or the always least favorite ‘’That must have been so hard for you.’’ Instead she listened intently, and the sincere sympathy on her face, in her eyes was touching. So much that he actually started sobbing, but that could have just been the sleep deprivation from 3 days with a total of 5 hours of sleep. 

After he finished, he stayed hiccupping sobs for a few minutes, just staring at the sky, thinking about how his mother would tap the words ‘’ I love you’’ in Morse code, how she would teach him how to hold a drill or screwdriver. Calypso seemed to have her own problems to thinks about, if the faraway look in her eyes was any indication. 

‘’Leo.’’ He snapped his gaze back to Calypso, blinking after staring at the upcoming sun for a little too long. 

‘’Hey, I just wanted to tell you… That I am sorry about telling you not to talk to me. You are a good person.’’ When he started smiling through his tears, she added: ‘’ I just-I had a few presumptions due to the jokes you always play at our party’s. I thought you just liked to embarrass people for your own fun, but I now realize you are trying exactly what I am: making people you care about smile, just via a different route. You have something as a subconscioius goal: Making life that little bit better one smile at a time. You are a good person, Leo. Believe that.’’ She smiled softly, but oh so genuine. 

He was absolutely stunned. He sat on the porch bench, staring at the mystery before him, before trying to find his voice and failing. He manages a thankful smile and nodded. Calypso eventually sat up, told him she was going to bed, and left him again alone with his thoughts, just with a different tone to them. A very positive tone. Making the best of it is the goal for everyone on earth. If we help each other with this task, it will be easier for every single one of us. As Leo sat there, staring at the newly born sunshine, everything suddenly looked a tint brighter.


	2. The first chains are broken

Monday January 27 2020, 23:03 

Thalia

She really should have seen it coming. 

Luke had been acting weird around her for about 3 months now, but she really didn’t want to think about it, let alone do something about it. The 'it’ being, that her best friend/brother figure needed himself to own and possess her. He had almost done so ever since Annabeth left him. 

She really started noticing some negatives about him about half a year ago. He started asking her for even more favors than normal, to do stuff for him, things he could easily get or perform on his own. Things like sending her grocery shopping for him claiming he was feeling off, and then forgetting to pay her back. Or that time where she had to take over his babysitting duties last-minute due to him again, just ‘feeling too tired’ and came to his apartment building after to check on him and finding him on his PlayStation at 1 AM. 

When she started gradually getting away from him though, he suddenly acted like good old Luke again: Just a nice guy who seemingly wanted just the best for her and acted like he never behaved like he did just months prior. Sadly, this didn’t last all too long. He started acting like she was his. Telling her not to go out with the girls too often, or claiming Friday evenings, the day where the rest of the group always had game nights, for ‘them’. Their good little family: Annabeth, Thalia and Luke. 

Annabeth had already drifted off from Luke when Luke started acting like Percy, her best friend who so obviously cared a lot about her and more than that, was a bad influence on her and actively tried to get her away from him. This only succeeded in shoving Annabeth further away from them, no longer the vulnerable neighborhood girl who needed attention and affection. No longer in need of a family. She had something that worked better. Friends. She had found people who genuinely wanted the best for her, not themselves. 

Who did Thalia have that wanted the best for her? 

Annabeth did. She so often tried to pursue Thalia to join her and Percy’s group on party nights,. Everyone there seemed to care for each other, without sacrificing others happiness for their owns. Jason and Frank treated the female attendants not as servants like Luke did, but as friends. Annabeth told her she could join them, leave Luke behind and find true friendships with people like Calypso, Piper, Hazel. So different from Luke... 

That was how friendship was supposed to look like. Different from how Luke wanted her to see it. The night of this realization was only a week ago. She had not spoken a word to him since. Now she was being invited up to his room to talk, and she thought she could guess about what. 

How wrong could she be? 

‘'Hey Thalia, mind going up to my room for a moment?’' Luke looked at her with an expression that showed his nerves. She silently agreed, excusing herself from her conversation with Hazel and following him up. 

‘'Listen Luke, I just-’' She started when they entered the room and sat on the bed but was interrupted by Luke in the manner that stood at the bottom of the list she expected him to. 

‘'I love you. Thalia, I need you in my life, haven’t you seen that? Why do you keep leaving me when you see that? Please. And apparently, you need me too. You have started to hang out with the wrong people. Have you not seen how they are trying to lure you in? To lure you into exposing your emotions. You do know what they will do with them once they have it... Just the same thing your parents did to you. Eventually lose interest in you, and dump you like something they have used but whose usefulness is gone. Just like our parents did. Let me protect you from that, PLEASE. I can’t lose you like I lost Annabeth. She hates me now; do you know that? She probably tells you all about how her ideas are the better ones, how I am just a guy who uses you?’' 

There he was, sitting across from her and spilling his heart out. Confirming all her suspicions about the fact that he was trying to keep her from seeing others. 

‘'Annabeth is right, Luke. YOU JUST USE ME! When can I ask you to do your own shit, let alone doing ME a favor?! You act like you OWN me. Luke, I am done here. I AM LEAVING YOU. 

Before she could, though, he jumped in front of the door and held her in a tight grip with her arms locked around her sides. He stared at her before saying: 

‘'I am protecting you. For a decade. And now you leave me? YOU LEAVE ME?! Thalia, you don’t understand what this will do to me. I love you. If you leave, I'll follow you wherever you go, because leaving you hurts too much. I am CHAINED. You have CHAINED ME!’' His eyes stood angry, betrayed and panicked all at once. Desperate. There were tears forming. 

As she was staring into his eyes, for probably a little longer than she realized she was, she understood him. He was so caring for them when younger, that it had indeed chained him to them. He had cut away so many people out of his life when younger, that it had ended with only Annabeth and Thalia being his two support pillars. One had already broken away from him, one was about to break. 

He would fall. 

It hurt so much. So damn much but she decided in that moment. Luke would have to find new people to possess, because Thalia was done. It was freeing and painful all at once. Looking into his shining blue eyes for the last time, she freed herself from his grip and walked out to the hallway. When she looked around, he was staring at her with what she could only guess was regret. 

‘'I was never yours, Luke. I never will be.’' She didn’t look around again. 

She practically ran down the stairs, bumping into Percy and Leo on her way out the door to take a good long breather. Percy called out after her: ‘'Hey Thals! Where are you going?’' She looked around to see him looking very concerned, Leo just behind him looking...Guilty? He probably heard some of it, she guessed. ‘'Going to take some pictures by moonlight, on my own if you don’t mind.’' Not waiting for his reaction, she ran out the door. 

After escaping the lodge and Luke and the burden on her life that he was, she felt relief everywhere in her body. She had already been rooming with the girls for a few months now and could almost not wait to tell Annabeth she had freed herself. At that thought, she smiled at herself. Smart girl. Had figured this mess out years early. If only she would finally kiss Percy outside of the context of a game of spin the bottle, her life would be going absolutely perfect. 

Now she had taken the first jump. Broken herself free of his chains. After wasting a part of herself on him, Thalia could finally start her perfect too. 

Tuesday January 28 2020, 02:14

Annabeth

Something was wrong. Even Annabeth's slightly buzzed mind could figure that one out. Not coming back for 3 hours after running out to ‘take some snowy pictures’ could not be considered an all right situation. 

When Thalia had walked out 3 hours prior, she figured it was because Thalia probably didn’t want to be near Luke, as she had complained to Annabeth all week about how he had manipulated both of them, and how he was acting extra possessive lately. Annabeth had been happy about this development as it was bringing Thalia nearer to giving up on him, something she herself was so happy with she had done. Convincing her best friend of doing the same had been her main goal for the last 6 months. 

She was pretty convinced she had done it now. 

As time went on and Thalia still had not returned at 6 in the morning, she decided to wake Percy. She tiptoed to the room he shared with Frank, and slightly shook him. ‘'Hey...sorry for waking you up but-’' 

‘'Don’t worry ‘bout it. What is it?’' 

‘'Thalia still isn’t back. I’m getting worried...’' 

Percy looked shocked. ‘'What? I thought she only went out for some pictures?’' 

Annabeth was already thinking about all possible things that could have happened: Wolves, slippery cliffs, hypothermia by accidentally falling into a freezing lake...No. 

‘'She probably went to the guest cabin to be alone for a bit. Luke was really getting on her nerves this last week. She probably didn’t want to sleep in the same room as him.’' 

Percy looked slightly relieved. ‘'Yeah, probably. Think we should go check? Just to make sure, I can’t sleep again without knowing for sure.’' 

They both took their jackets and started making their way over towards the guest cabin. It was still dark and cold outside. Annabeth had only put on sweatpants in her hurry to reach her best friend, so she was shivering quite a bit. ‘'’Jeez, I should have put on my jeans...It’s freezing here.’' 

Percy didn’t say anything but grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him while they walked. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed contently. Being so close to him, he was momentarily all she could think about. Her slowly developed crush on him was only getting stronger the more time she spent with him. When she met him at high school in NYC, she instantly became friends with him. They were quick to become best friends, spending evenings studying with her helping him get good enough grades to be able to apply for his dream study of Marine Conservation. These study sessions quickly evolved into movie-and-game nights with his friends, who were all awesome and quick to welcome her into the group. Especially Piper had helped her a lot with her social skills, always inviting her to girl's night with her friends Katie and Silena, giving her a much more outgoing personality than the one she had while surviving with Luke and Thalia as her only contacts. This was when she was 14. She slowly but surely became less and less dependent on Luke and Thalia, slowly discovered her interests and passions. 

She didn’t know for sure when she started crushing on Percy. It was possibly always there. Those green eyes, standing happy and caring as default, instantly took her in when they met in class. After discovering everything about him, like how he thought his mother was the best person in the world, which is probably true, the way he rubs the back of his neck when he is nervous, the gentle leadership he possesses when leading the school swim team... 

She was probably gone from the start. 

That didn’t change the fact that she was afraid of admitting her feelings to him. The irrational fear of losing him was too painful to think about, so just staying best friends seemed like the right idea. Piper was going insane about the fact that they still weren’t together yet. She had pretty solid evidence for the fact that he had feelings for her too, due to Jason sending a picture of Percy staring at his phone with a picture of Annabeth on it while he thought no-one was watching. When he was caught, he blushed so hard that he had to hide it by jumping off the first floor balcony. At least according to Jason. 

The thought of him rejecting her wasn’t the one she was worried about: It was about the thought of him leaving her life one day, and never coming back. 

‘'Hey sleepyhead, we’re here’' He jostled her out of her thoughts. Looking away to hide her blush, she knocked on the guest cabin door. After fifteen minutes of knocking and calling out, Thalia still didn’t answer. 

‘'Maybe she’s asleep, maybe she is taking pictures of the sunrise somewhere...Where else could she be?’' 

Tuesday January 28 2020, 09:33

Thalia

The nails were overkill. 

Thalia thought everything about the thing was disgusting. They had a bald head, limbs twice as long as normal, eyes that seemed to have lost its pupils, a face straight out of a zombie horror movie. Their skin was pale, white even. But their hands looked like blades, able to rip off limbs without a problem. 

At least, that was what it was being used for right now. A human body hung from a meat hook in the dim light that reached the cavern. The head was gone, the clothes were gone, and it was now losing its limbs one by one. As Thalia lay there, paralyzed with fear and probably a broken leg, she was pretty sure the thing would tear her up next. Her resting place was at 20 feet distance. The creature took a leg, looked at it like it was delight in pure form, and leaped off away from her. 

Thalia was pretty sure she had hallucinated the whole night. 

The cliffside was a place she liked to take some alone time during the getaways with her family. Even though Jason was an awesome half-brother, the rest of her family was hell. She remembers going here at age 12, and not knowing how to properly socialize with someone different from Luke or Annabeth. It was a place of calm, somewhere she could always feel herself relax for a moment. 

A few hours ago, though, it was the starting point of her nightmare. The thing had crawled up to her slowly, staring at her like it couldn't quite point out where she was. Now when Thalia thought back on it, that probably was due to their vision. It apparently worked on movement. Thalia had sat completely still. 

Until the ledge under her collapsed, and when she grabbed an overhanging branch, she could see the glow of fire over the cliff edge. The monster apparently died, judging by the fact that a man with a WW1 gas mask on was trying to save her seconds later. Sadly, for both of them, the branch collapsed and Thalia dropped 60 feet down. 

She landed painfully on her left leg, and instantly knew it was broken. She tried scrambling up, but everything hurt. She crawled next to a corner with shadow to protect herself from being spotted, and shortly after, passed out. 

Now Thalia was stuck in a mine with a broken leg and presumably supernatural predators hunting her. Life had dropped down and beyond being shit. The only thing she was able to do, was wait.


	3. The First Stage of Grief is Regret

Friday February 28 2020, 15:22 

Luke 

‘'...And by this day, Thalia Grace will be presumed dead. The search for her has yielded no rewards, even though the rangers have searched the entire mountain three times over. It...’' 

Luke didn’t hear it anymore. The guilt and grief in his head were too much. Had she killed herself because of him? Was it an accident? Had her friends convinced her to kill herself? 

Why would she leave him? 

She loved him. She must have. He had protected her from everyone else for over a decade. How could she not love him like he loved her? The confusion was too much at this moment. He needed alcohol. He got up from his bed, where he had been the entire day, listening to the radio hoping for news about Thalia. He kinda wished he hadn’t now. Then he could keep himself from the pain with the false hope that she was alive. 

The whiskey tasted not like it was supposed to. It had a side of blood. Maybe because his lip was bleeding from biting it so much. He was drinking more and more, shot after shot, until he felt his head get clouded. 

Was it his fault? What had he done wrong? He had only tried to protect her from them, from her snake of a best friend, protect her from her brother who told her that she could trust their friends to not leave her. Lies, Luke knew. Everyone leaves you eventually. Like Thalia and Annabeth had left him. He had thought they were starting their own family, years ago. At 16, he had thought they would live together sometime, leave Percy and co behind, and he would have them all for himself...To protect them. The plan seemed perfect. 

But he had failed them. Failed to protect them from trusting others. He would make himself pay for that. It was his fault. 

He had chained himself to them, and then proceeded to FAIL them. 

Friday February 28 2020, 17:34 

Percy 

Annabeth had cried for 2 hours straight after the news came on the radio, absolutely soaking his hoodie. 

It was already dry again by the time she stopped sobbing. No tear left to shed. 

They were holed up in her dormitory, listening to the radio when they heard that the search had been given up. Annabeth immediately started crying, crying over the loss of Thalia, who she spent over a decade being close to. Percy was powerless to console her anyhow. Thalia was dead. Nothing else made sense. He could only help his best friend by being her shoulder to cry on. All their friends were there, all mourning but not quite crying. Thalia didn’t come close to them enough for a good friend bond to be formed. She was still very much in Luke’s sphere of influence. And when she finally decided to break out, she died. Life was fair that way. 

Jason excused himself when the news came in, throwing over his chair and running straight for the rooftop. Piper went after him. Frank gave them the option to be alone for a while, and they thankfully agreed. 

How could this have happened? 

Luke was always someone Percy just couldn’t get along with, and Percy was a pretty likable person apparently. Luke always came to pick up Annabeth from parties, and for a while, he thought Luke was her older brother. While Percy was struggling to find a way to ask her on a real date once back in high school, not just eating out with your best friend, she told him that she probably had abandonment issues, and would not easily let herself open up for everyone. This made him change his mind about confessing his feelings for her, because what if she didn’t want a relationship due to her attachment issues? 

That was in the first six months of them knowing each other. But he was having trouble believing it with how easy she warmed up to his friends, especially Piper. Apparently as a girl you needed a female best friend too to talk about girl things. Piper was awesome though, so he didn’t mind. 

The stories didn’t line up. How did she make fast friends with everyone while having abandonment issues? After she took some distance from Luke, she started being even more open. Finally letting herself not be the shyest girl in the room anymore at parties, taking initiative herself to organize bowling trips, opening up to Jason about what Luke did with Thalia... He was seeing a pattern. 

She told him she felt freer without Luke around, and Percy could obviously see that. The abandonment issues thing made much more sense now. Luke made them believe it, and it could still affect her. Like a placebo. If you believe that people will leave you, you start giving up on them and they indeed end up leaving. This only strengthens your belief. 

‘'Perce...Could you get me a paper towel please?’' She took him out of his thoughts. 

Friday February 28 2020, 19:48 

Thalia 

The hunger was painful. She couldn’t stay conscious without feeling absolute desperation screaming from her body. 

Hunger. It sang an anthem in her head. Hunger. 

She had not eaten something for 3 weeks now. Dirt tasted like heaven right now. But that was not enough to keep her sanity. She was almost losing it. The Hunger was too much. 

A body, hanging from a meat hook. The limbs were taken off and lying on the cave floor. Could she resist it any longer? She doubted it. Her body had a mind of its own, it seemed, as she crawled towards a severed arm, lying on top of the limb pile. She sat there for hours, resisting it. She crawled away. 

The blood tasted slightly good. Like she should taste more of it. The voice in her head thought so. But she wasn’t quite sure who was who anymore.


	4. Summer Positivity

Wednesday April 15 2020, 17:31 

‘'LEO! Oh my go-’' She was cut off by another egg breaking on her head. ‘'Oh, so we’re doing this now? Come here you-’' She cut herself off this time, because Leo looked like he might literally burst from laughing. He was an easy target now. The egg broke on his head, but she wasn’t done. A whole package of flour was dumped over him. He stopped laughing and looked horrified. ‘'CAL! Don’t you know how hard that is to wash out? Oh my god, you’re going down!’' 

This was a normal Wednesday midday for them. 

They started talking as friends after the tragedy, helping each other, but especially Annabeth, through it. The two went from not talking to each other to close friends in the space of 2 months. The classes they were in together became excuses to talk to each other and come over to study. Jason and Piper had already started teasing them, but they weren’t really bothered. They were in their 20s now for heaven's sake, teasing about crushes didn’t get to them anymore. 

Parties with the group were only just starting to come back again after they were dismissed due to a certain event, and because Annabeth couldn’t stop crying whenever they all came together. So, you had to find people to spend Friday nights with, and the last 2 months, that had been Leo for Calypso. 

It was hard for her to make male friends. In her childhood, she had three unrequited crushes on boys who were already fallen for someone else. All treated her like friend and with respect, while not knowing they were breaking her heart. She avoided having boys too friendly with her from age 16-19, in hope of finally finding someone who would commit to her instead of the opposite. She wanted to have a choice for once. Sadly, for her stubborn self, her best friend Hazel did have male friends, and Calypso really couldn't avoid them. And lucky for her, they were all already obviously committed to another girl. 

Well, all except for Leo. This boy would fake flirt with all his friends, and with all she meant all. He seemed to always need to distract himself; Toying with screws and bolts, not being able to shut up, and generally being a nuisance to someone who wanted to have a break. Seemingly always out to embarrass one of his friends with pranks, but they all just laughed and accepted it when it happened to them. 

She immediately disliked him. That is why she always tried to avoid him, until the first winter trip she was invited to. When he told her about his life that night, she was intrigued. Apparently, he did have actual serious thoughts. 

She got to know his jokester personality was only one part of him, and his serious part was hidden for most. It had been opened to her on that faithful trip, and never really closed again. The last two months had led to her meeting the hidden Leo, while coming to accept and even like the normal, previously annoying Leo a bit. He was her go-to Friday night companion after Hazel. Luckily, Hazel was with Frank most of the time, so she had an excuse to invite him again to console each other. 

Every time one of them doubted if they were at fault for Thalia’s death, they would call each other and assure the other it wasn’t. Every time they would think what they were doing was useless, they recalled the people they would make happy doing it. Right now, what made both happy was the positivity the other gave them. Calypso can’t believe she missed out on this for years, when he was right there near her. She was so happy she found him she didn’t even slap him when he dumped flour on her hair as well. 

Just tickled him to death. 

Tuesday August 18 2020, 00:00 

‘'Happy birthday, Seaweed Brain.’' She was about to do this. Shrug off the last of the things Luke had made her afraid of. She was going to trust someone completely, one hundred percent, no secrets left. It was one of their 3-times-a-week sleepovers, which might seem a little overdone, but she was traumatized earlier this year, and had needed her best friend near her a lot. It's kind of become a habit. Not that she was complaining. He was lying next to her on the bed, watching Netflix, when she offered him a cupcake. He gratefully took it, split it in half and gave the bigger part to her. ‘'Hey! You’re supposed to take the bigger part, it's your birthday!’' 

‘'But what If I want you to have the bigger part?’' 

‘'You reject my delicious cupcake?’' 

‘'I didn’t reject it, just was a perfect gentleman! Just like mommy taught me.’' He rolled over to face her and looked at her with puppy eyes. She relented with an eyeroll and let him take the smaller part. She had burned the cupcake two times before finally nailing it. And according to the satisfied sounds he was making, she copied Sally’s recipe pretty well. ‘'Might even be better than mom’s...’' She gave him a smirk. ‘'Oh, really Perce?’' 

‘'Maybe.’' He mumbled under his breath. He mumbled some more, and she only picked up the words ‘'You got this.’' He sat up against the headboard, mirroring her position. He looked at her like he wanted to say something but really couldn't. So, she spoke up first. 

‘'Hey Seaweed Brain,’' She spoke softly, ‘'You know that you are the person I care about most in the entire world, right? So maybe you should know this.’' She saw him visibly tense up. ‘'I may have been lying to myself when I said I had abandonment issues, years ago...I think Luke placed it in my head like a placebo. I believed it in the past, but it has worn out. I think I can handle opening up and trusting people so much better now, compared to back then. Even though you are already close to me, I want you closer. I want to have you as part of me. And so, I just wanna tell you- That I- I just-’' She looked up at Percy, who was smirking. ‘'Are you trying to tell me something, Wise Girl?’' She groaned. 

‘'You’re laughing at me.’' 

‘'No, I'm not!’' 

‘'You are so not making this easy for me.’' At this, he laughed and pulled her to him, so that she sat on his lap. 

‘'Love you too, Annabeth.’' Then he kissed her. 

It felt amazing, and she completely melted into it. After years of not daring to, trusting him not to leave her was the only logical option. He always looked at her like she was the most important thing in the world, the one he would do everything for. Kinda like how she looked at him. They were so important to each other; it would be crushing to leave one another. It would never happen. The boy she wanted for years, the man she was currently kissing, was finally really part of her. It was, even though she didn’t easily classify something as such, completely and utterly perfect. 

When they parted, it was due to the lack of air. They looked at each other with dumb, in-love smiles on their faces and continued where they left off. They fell asleep in each other's arms as the sun rose hours later.


	5. Memories

Friday September  25, 2020, 03:29

Thalia

Memories had started fading months ago.

Still, she did remember some things. What, even she couldn't tell anymore. The control had been taken from her long ago. Still, at moments like this, looking at a photo of Jason and Thalia that was lying around in the guest cabin, she felt  _ something positive. _ That broke the haze for a singular moment in time, and she cried. Thick tears streamed down her face, from her white eyes down to her fangs. Then she remembered something else. The haze started up again sadly, and she teared the photo apart. Something about the happy memory had ruined it. Something about the sight of a boy with blond hair and blue eyes had ruined her moment of clarity.

When she found the owner of those eyes, she would take care of them. They wouldn’t see anything ever again.

The victims she had made in May had brown eyes, one moment bright and happy, the next rolled up and empty. The holes in her throat, made with a pair of nails, had been fatal for her. Men in camouflage uniform had scoured the mountain after for hours, following footsteps and finding only the feet and ankles, soaked in blood. After the incident with Thalia Grace in January, the mountains surrounding Mt. Grace were declared prohibited territory due to dangerous circumstances. 

They were starving.

Thursday October  8, 2020, 15:55

Luke

The memory of her was clouding his mind. Not only now, though. It had been doing so for the last 7 months. He left his job, which he got after being rejected dozens of times and spent 2 years on getting. He was spending his mom’s heritage to be able to cry in his house at least 12 hours a day. 

His life had been ruined.

He had thought about the incident so much, he had started developing a severe hate towards everyone who had been there. If they would have just DONE something to stop her, just do SOMETHING to save her life...But no. They hadn’t. They had grieved for a few months, and then let it go, even Annabeth. His sneaky, snake traitor baby sister. Why had she left him? Together, they would have been able to convince Thalia not to leave him. She would have put on her famous 'pleading with Thalia’ face, and she would not have been able to resist. 

But alas, she was with Percy now. She had chosen to heal her grief by passing her heart to someone else completely. Had ignored his most valuable advice. Never, NEVER open your heart to somebody. It could ruin you.

He was feeling the effects of that right now. He was ruined. 

But that wasn’t  **_ FAIR _ ** ! 

What he felt, they would feel too. He would make sure of it. Even if it was the last thing he did. Chaining their heart to  to mountain just like his was, like Thalia’s was. Either physically or mentally, he didn’t care. They had to feel his pain. After all,

**_ IT IS ONLY FAIR. _ **

Monday November 16, 2020, 19:46

Jason

When he got the text, his first thought had been to block the number. He was the son of a famous businessman after all. He got unwanted texts all the time. But when he read it, his blood froze. 

_ Hey Jason, Luke Castellan here. _

The first five words terrified him already. This guy was the reason his sister was dead. Okay, that wasn’t entirely fair of course. She had died due to a natural cause in the winter weather, according to the police. But the way she had talked about him when she came barging in one-night in December last year.

‘'Jason?’'

‘'Hey Thals! What are you doing here this late? Sneaking into the boys’ dormitory is not something I would expect from yo-’'

‘'It’s Luke.’'

This shut him up. Luke had apparently been manipulating Thalia into not seeing other people, according to Annabeth. He was already not too fond of the guy due to the stories Annabeth told him. The fact that his sister was so close with such a person wasn’t a positive to him.

‘'What is it?’' 

‘'He threatened to kill himself.’'

‘'What!?’' 

Thalia told him that Luke had told her to leave her dormitory she was sharing with Annabeth, Hazel and Calypso and come to live with him, or he would kill himself. She was in tears.

‘'Of course, I don’t care about him as much anymore as I did in the past, but he is still someone who has helped me a lot throughout the years! I don’t want to kill him, but also not become his slave!’'

‘'Please.’' She whispered. ’'I don’t know what to do.’'

‘'Leave him on his own. He wouldn’t do that, right? That would mean he is suicidal anyway. We should call the police!’' She stared at Jason like he was insane. 

‘'He would kill himself as he heard the knocking on the door.’' ‘'How?’' 

She looked even more sad and terrified than he had imagined was humanly possible.

‘'He has a gun.’'

That had been the end of the conversation. Jason had told her not to listen to Luke, and Thalia complied. A month later, she had walked out on a trip he had invited Luke to due to Thalia’s pleading, and she had died.

The text continued.

_ Hey Jason, Luke Castellan here. _

_ I want to ask a favor of you. I know you don’t like me that much, but I did care a lot about Thalia. To the point where I am still grieving as where her brother has apparently moved past it. _

_ Now, I want to try and finally come to terms with what happened. The only place I can think of is Mt. Grace. The place where I lost her. Even better would be to do it with the people I lost her with. That means that It would mean a lot to me if Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Calypso, Frank, Hazel, Piper and you would be able to join me on this trip.  _

_ Think about it. Thalia wouldn't have wanted us to be sad and never visit that mountain again. She would want us to be happy, right? She cared so much about all of us. Please Jason, you must save me from my pain. I would never be able to pay you back.  _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Luke _

The trip was planned for January 25-31 not even a week later. They had all decided that Luke was right. Thalia wouldn’t have wanted them to associate the mountains with grief forever.  As long as they thought about her often enough. Thalia would indeed not want them to be sad.

Maybe there was one exeption, though.   



End file.
